Auto Ramanna, known to people as Junior Shankar Nag is coming out with a DVD version of a feature film, titled Shankar Nag Savinenapu, Auto Chalakara Kanasu. The film, which is in the final editing stages is set to release sometime next month.
A hard core fan of the actor, late Shankar Nag, Ramanna says that the first 45 minutes of the film will be about Shankar Nag’s life. “I have also shown the difficulties faced by auto drivers today. The heroine in the film is Sinchan, a software engineer.
One of my friends helped me find her through a social networking website. Anand Vattar is the cameraman and dialogues have been written by Vinayak Ram,” says Ramanna. Ramanna lives like Shankar Nag, be it in his mannerisms, hairstyle, or stunts which Shankar Nag performed in his films.
Almost considering him as God, this auto driver also took the initiative of installing a bronze statue of the late humble star. “When I used to see other statues of stars on the road, I dreamt of installing a statue of my own God, Shankar Nag. So, I took out my meager savings that I had collected for many years and got the statue carved by Shivakumar and now I see my God’s statue at Gopalan Mall on Mysore Road,” he said.
Ramanna became an auto driver after he watched one of Shankar Nag’s films, Auto Raja on small screen. “That particular day, I was quite upset and came back home early and was watching this film Auto Raja. I was inspired by the way Shankar Nag did social service as an auto driver.
So, I decided to be an auto driver and even today I enjoy doing social service,” he said. Today, one can not only see posters of Shankar Nag on Ramanna’s auto but also listen to his breathless dialogue delivery, which is often stretches up to fifteen or twenty minutes. “I always deliver the dialogues to every passenger who takes a ride in my auto,” he said.
Coming from Belgaum, Auto Ramanna tells us that he is a fan of the Karate King from childhood. “Minchana Oota, Benki Chandu, Muninyana Maaduri, Apoorva Sangama.
he has around 93 films, which I watched over and over again. I have watched Jeeva ke Jeeva 19 times,” says Ramanna who came to Bangalore to become an actor. “I met Shankar Nag in 1987 on the streets of Gandhinagar.
I ran to him and told him that I was his biggest fan and he was so surprised that I knew a lot about his films,” reveals Ramanna, who got his first break in one of Shankar Nag’s films, SP Sangliana. “He gave me a small role and from then on my journey began.
Though I could do only three films with Shankar Nag, I have done more than 45 films with different actors,” he said. Ramanna was devastated when Shankar Nag died in a car accident on September 30, 1990. “I celebrate his birth anniversary every year,” says this auto driver, who wants to follow his foot steps, “Once I got Rs 2 lakh in my auto.
Though initially I thought it was God’s gift, later my beloved Shankar Nag came in my mind and I gave back the money,” says Ramanna, who is not just an auto driver but also a columnist and has written a book on Shankar Nag. “Shankar Nag used to sleep for 6 hours but I sleep only for 5 hours because it helps me to do more social service,” he says.
About his feature film, he says, “I plan to bring out around one lakh DVDs. Not only have my auto driver friends planned to help me, but people from different parts of Karnataka are waiting to buy the DVD,” says this Junior Shankar Nag who has around 8,000 fan following. “I have two cell phones as I keep getting calls from fans, from all over Karnataka. They are waiting for me to release the DVD,” he signs off.